


Dearly Beloved

by thoroughlynerdy



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:09:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5688748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thoroughlynerdy/pseuds/thoroughlynerdy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU play off the Ai wo Sakebe PV in which Ohno and Sho are getting married and Aiba and Jun are their best men.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dearly Beloved

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tangiblewhimsy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangiblewhimsy/gifts).



> Originally written for tangiblewhimsy for this year's Aiba Exchange. Thanks to the best cheerleaders a fangirl could ask for and to my beta who kept me sane when I thought this fic would swallow me whole.

Aiba Masaki sat across from his best friend, Sakurai Sho, at the Starbucks they usually frequented together. He had his usual peppermint mocha in front of him and he was grinning as Sho told him the harrowing tale of finally proposing to Ohno after a year and a half of being together.

“He was so graceful,” Sho moaned into his cup of orange mocha. “He was literally skating laps around me as we went around the rink, and I was doing good to stay on my feet and off of my ass by clutching the rail the entire time we were on the ice.”

Sho had concocted a brilliant plan of taking Ohno to the temporary rink set up in front of Tokyo Skytree and proposing right there in the center of the rink while everyone skated around them. What he hadn’t considered was the fact that it had been years since he was last on skates and that his ice skating abilities were actually far less substantial than he gave himself credit for.

Aiba couldn’t help but snicker at the image of his very suave friend looking so uncool while flailing around on ice. “I’m sure Oh-chan found it adorable,” he soothed his friend.

He’d known Sho since his first year of University—they’d met in the dining hall when Aiba plopped down at Sho’s table and began chatting idly with him as he ate. That afternoon he ran into Sho again as they were both leaving the Communications Building and Aiba decided it was fate and they were meant to be friends. To his credit, Sho took it in stride and they were nearly inseparable as Sho worked through his communications major and Aiba worked on his nursing degree.

“The last time I fell he actually fell over too from laughing at me,” Sho groaned and drained the rest of his drink.

“And this is why I’m glad you found Oh-chan. Now, tell me, he said yes, right?” Aiba grinned and finished his own drink.

Aiba had been the first person Sho had texted after meeting Ohno and Aiba had watched their story unfold. He and Sho had been roommates at the time and he saw the look on Sho’s face when he’d come home after meeting Ohno at his studio. Sho had looked different and wouldn’t shut up about this unassuming looking man who turned into the most graceful person Sho had ever seen.

Sho’s whole face lit up at the question and he nodded excitedly. “He did, and we’re looking at dates in June.”

Aiba clapped his hands together and jumped out of his chair to go hug his best friend, “I’m so happy for you both!” He said through sniffles as he squeezed Sho tightly.

Sho tried to duck out of his grasp, but Aiba’s grip was too strong. “Thank you, now will you please let go of me before people start to stare?”

It was too late though since several tables around them were giving them strange looks as Aiba sat back down in his chair.

Aiba dabbed at his eyes with one of the brown napkins between them as Sho relayed the way Ohno’s eyes went wide as they sat together on the bench just outside of the rink and he pulled the simple silver band out of his coat pocket.

“Are you going to cry even harder if I ask you to be my best man?” Sho asked a little hesitantly.

Aiba gasped and shook his head, but immediately contradicted himself by starting to. “You mean it? I figured Shu would—”

“He’ll be there with us, but I want you beside me.” Sho explained with a smile of his own.

“Thank you, I’ll be the best best man ever!” Aiba promised with a fierce look in his eye. He looked down at his watch and yelped when he noticed the time. “I’m really happy for you, Sho-chan, for real, but I need to get to work now!” Aiba said as he jumped out of his chair and pulled his coat off the back. 

He bundled up against the cold of winter and gave Sho a quick wave as he pushed his way into the throngs of people and toward the hospital where he worked. He couldn’t keep the grin off of his face as he thought about how happy Sho and Ohno would be.

He waved at Ai-chan in reception and said hello to Nakai-sensei and Joshima-sensei as they walked past discussing a patient that they shared. He slipped behind the nurse’s station just as Becky was packing up her things to leave for lunch. 

“You’re cutting it close, Aiba-kun,” she admonished him as she wound her scarf around her neck.

“Sho-chan had good news,” Aiba smiled back at her as he reached out to take the next patient in line’s chart. “Yamaguchi-chan needs a breathing treatment in fifteen minutes,” he noted and moved the file to the appropriate pile.

“Make sure you don’t rile him up too much, he needs to keep his oxygen levels manageable until his lungs get stronger,” Becky said with pointed poke to Aiba’s arm.

“I can’t help it if I’m his favorite nurse,” he shrugged, then dodged her hand as she tried to hit him.

“I’ll be back in half an hour, until then, Toma-kun’s in charge,” she and gave him a beaming smile before leaving.

“My mom would be so happy I’m the responsible one,” Toma said as he sat down in the empty chair at the station.

Aiba ignored him and went to retrieve Yamaguchi-chan’s medicine.

…

Two weeks later Aiba was sitting on the train, a small gift bag on his lap as he made his way to the little reception hall Sho and Ohno’s engagement party was being held at. He’d spent the entire morning searching for the perfect gift and nearly cried from relief when he found it just before he had to give up for fear of missing his train. He’d stumbled upon the set of hand painted mugs and knew that Sho’s love of coffee, and Ohno’s love of art meant that these were the perfect gift. The image on one mug depicted a little person reaching out into the distance, seemingly ready to catch something and on the other was another little person throwing a heart.

He bounced a little in his seat as they coasted to a stop two stations before his. Watching as people filed off and on the train, Aiba shifted to get his phone out of his pants pocket. He scrolled through his messages to quadrupole check the time of the event and the address of the venue since the last thing he needed was to show up two hours early to the wrong place. Confirming that he was not indeed headed to the wrong place, he sent a quick text to Sho to once again let him know how excited he was to be able to celebrate with two of his now favorite people.

He’d met Ohno a few weeks after he and Sho had begun dating and had quickly grown to love him. Ohno owned a dance company called Freestyle that specialized in choreography for theaters and television, and Sho had been sent by his news station to interview him as part of feature when Freestyle had been chosen to do the choreography for the new production of West Side Story. 

Sho had texted Aiba about Ohno, but even if he hadn’t, Aiba could have seen the stars in his best friend’s eyes from a million miles away when the segment aired the following night.

“You’re blushing, Sho-chan!” Aiba teased as Sho buried his face into one of the throw pillows on their small couch.

Aiba was happy when Sho admitted that he and Ohno had exchanged contact information and were going out that weekend, and when he finally met Ohno for himself he could not have been more pleased for Sho. The two complemented each other—Sho had a tendency to be more than a little high strung and Ohno had a way of calming Sho down and making him see reason. More than once he’d simply wrapped an arm around Sho’s waist and literally enveloped him into a hug to calm him down. 

When he finally reached his stop, Aiba took hold of the gift bag and joined the line to exit the train. He filed his way through the station towards the exit and up the stairs into the crisp Tokyo afternoon. Winding his way through the streets, Aiba was pleased to finally be at the venue of the Engagement party.

He stepped inside and checked his coat before dropping his gift on the table and stepping into the banquet area. The décor was nice—a silver and white motif with six small round tables set around the room. He glanced around and saw the Sakurai family seated around one table and headed that way first. 

“Good afternoon,” he greeted Sho’s parents bowing before them. “This looks lovely.”

“Ah, thank you, Aiba-kun, but we can’t take credit for this. Satoshi-kun’s friend Matsumoto-kun took care of the planning,” Sho’s mother responded and gestured towards a man around Aiba’s age who was talking to Ohno and Sho.

“Oh, okay, I’ll make sure to tell him then,” Aiba replied.

He asked Sho’s sister Mai about her new job since she was following in Sho’s footsteps as a newscaster and talked to Sho’s brother Shuu about how he was doing in school. After a few minutes he bid his farewells and made his way over to the happy couple.

Aiba beamed as he walked up to Ohno and Sho and threw his arms around the former.

“Oh-chan, have I told you lately how happy I am for you?” Aiba asked as he picked Ohno up and spun him around in a small circle.

Ohno giggled in response as Aiba set him down and turned to Sho.

“You know how happy I am, but you still get a hug anyway,” Aiba said before giving Sho the same treatment he gave Ohno.

“Aiba-chan, let me introduce you to Jun-kun,” Ohno said once Aiba had set Sho down.

Aiba turned and his eyes widened as he got a good look at him. He was wearing a very well-tailored charcoal grey suit and his short hair was styled messily atop his head.

“Aiba Masaki, please meet Matsumoto Jun,” Ohno said as he gestured from one to the other.

“Hello,” Aiba said and bowed politely at Matsumoto. He tried not to, but couldn’t help staring at the other man when Jun looked straight at him. His eyes were striking and he had this appraising look on like he was sizing Aiba up to see if he was worthy of his time.

“Sakurai-san told me you were in charge of decorating for the engagement party,” Aiba said with a smile to Jun. “This place looks incredible.”

“Thank you, it was the least I could do as best man to help celebrate Ohno-kun and Sho-kun,” Matsumoto replied cooly.

As they were talking, Ohno and Sho made their way to the other side of the room to greet the guests who had just arrived.

Not wanting to be rude and abandon his new companion, Aiba started in on the small talk.

“So, how do you know Oh-chan and Sho-chan?” he asked gesturing towards the happy couple.

Matsumoto followed his gaze and amiled fondly at the pair. “Ohno and I met at school—he was a senior when I was a freshman, but since we wore both doing the spring musical we got to know one another.”

“Oh! You dance too?” Aiba asked interestedly. He loved the idea of a younger Ohno teaching his kouhai.

“Not really, no,” Matsumoto replied shaking his head. “I wanted to do costuming, but anyone in the theater department or who wanted to work in the production was required to audition. Lucky me got a part and ended up miserable for six weeks of rehearsals and a week of shows.”

A waiter walked by with a tray of champagne flutes and Aiba snagged two from him and thanked him before offering one to Matsumoto. “That sounds like it would be scary if you didn’t want to perform,” Aiba sympathized.

“It kind of was, yeah,” Matsumoto replied taking the offered drink and raising it to Aiba in a gesture of thanks and cheers. “I was shaking so hard before the first performance you could hear my teeth chattering in the mic,” he laughed. “The only thing that calmed me down, and saved my little three minutes of performance, was Leader kissing me and leaving me so dazed that I don’t even remember being onstage.”

“Who’s Leader?” Aiba asked taking a drink of his own champagne.

“Ah, sorry, that’s what we called Ohno-kun since even then he was in charge of choreography for most of the show.”

Aiba choked a bit on his champagne and coughed as he tried to recover from the shock. “You kissed Oh-chan?” he said, his eyes smarting from the alcohol burning his nose. “Does Sho know?” Aiba asked throwing a panicked look towards his best friend.

“It was ten years ago, Aiba-san. I’m not sure he cares.”

“But, you’re not—you aren’t going to try and sabotage anything, right? You’re not going to swoop in and try and steal Ohno away from Sho because you suddenly realized you made a huge mistake and your life won’t be complete without him, right?” Aiba asked him suspiciously.

Matsumoto stared back at him blankly.

Aiba could feel a blush creeping up his neck as he ran back over his outburst in his mind, but he stood his ground. He knew he sounded paranoid, but he couldn’t help it—Sho’s life was on the line and he would do whatever necessary to protect him. Even if it meant he had to keep an eye on this Matsumoto character.

“Not that I need to justify anything to you,” Matsumoto began coldly, “but I resent the implication that I would do anything to hurt one of my best friends. Satoshi and I decided a week after it happened that we would never work as anything more than friends long term. I love him to this day, but he needs someone with more patience than I have in a relationship. He needs someone who can roll with his flow a little more easily than I could since I tend to get a little frustrated when he moves slower than I want him to.” Matsumoto drained his glass. “Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to look for a refill.”

“Wait—” Aiba said reaching out to put a hand on Matsumoto’s shoulder.

Matsumoto whirled around and gave him a cold look, “I don’t like people touching me without my consent.”

Aiba jerked his hand back and felt hot again, “I’m sorry, I just wanted to say that. I got a little weird a minute ago and accused you of trying to hurt your friend, and you didn’t deserve that. I just worry for Sho-chan because he found Ohno exactly when he needed him and I have never seen a more perfect couple in my life. I want to protect them,” Aiba finished staring at Matsumoto’s shoes.

“Apology accepted, but please try and think through things before you say them in the future. Use your brain as a filter.” Matsumoto replied simply before walking away.

…

Aiba was finishing hanging up his laundry to dry on the rod for his shower when his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He shifted the small pile to one arm and fished his phone out to read the display before grinning.

“Hey Oh-chan,” he said happily as he brought his shoulder up to his ear to hold the phone so he could finish hanging his clothes.

“Hello,” Ohno replied.

“Is there something you wanted to ask me?” Aiba asked half a minute later when Ohno had said nothing else.

“Oh, yeah. Jun-kun told me you were worried he was trying to steal me from Sho,” Ohno said with a laugh.

Aiba dropped the last few clothespins in his hand and took hold of the phone properly. “I’m so sorry about that! I don’t know what got into me.” he said a little desperately.

“Sho thinks it’s hilarious. He keeps telling Jun-kun to watch his hands whenever he is fitting me for costumes now, and I think Jun-kun may stab him with his straight pins soon.”

“Please tell Matsumoto-san how sorry I am,” Aiba pleaded as he hung the last of his clothes up to dry. He sat down on the closed toilet lid and wiped his hand over his face. “I’m never going to live that down.”

Ever since the engagement party Aiba had been kicking himself for accusing Matsumoto without even knowing him. He’d taken the idea and just ran with it without stopping to consider the absurdity of it all.

“You can tell him yourself at rehearsal on Thursday,” Ohno replied easily.

“Rehearsal?” Aiba asked, his face scrunching in confusion.

“All of the wedding party is going to surprise Sho with a dance at the wedding,” Ohno explained. “I choreographed it, and the first rehearsal is Thursday at 6:00.”

“That sounds great,” Aiba said excitedly, his voice echoing in the small space of his bathroom, and he dashed out of the room and to his calendar where he wrote his work schedule every week.

…

Aiba got to Freestyle Studios for dance practice with five minutes to spare. He’d meant to meet Ohno a little earlier to practice a bit before the group session because he’s never had any dance training before and was worried that he would be slow picking up the steps. However luck had not been on his side when Toma had called in asking if Aiba could cover the first half hour of his shift, and then there was snow on the tracks on his train line so he had been delayed even further.

He stepped into the studio and smiled and gave a little wave to the other groomsmen milling about and stretching while they waited for everyone to arrive. Aiba set his bag down and shucked his coat off by the door and hung it on the rack with the others. He was still wearing his scrubs from work and noticed that he received a few weird looks because of the cartoon animals decorating his clothes.

Winding his way through the other groomsmen, Aiba settled down next to Shuu to stretch.

“How’s school?” Aiba asked as he mirrored Shuu was sitting with his legs spread and reaching towards his left foot.

“Good. Busy. I have both a lit paper and a history paper due this week on top of three rugby practices. 

Aiba winced in sympathy. “Writing papers is what I miss least about my college days.”

Their conversation was cut short by Ohno who shuffled to the front of the room. He wore baggy sweatpants and a tank top and smiled down at everyone in attendance. “Ah, um, thank you everyone for taking the time to come here today. As you know, this is my surprise for Sho-kun and it means so much to me that you want to help. Now, if you’ll all stand up, we’ll get started.”

Aiba pushed to his feet and stood about an arm’s length from Shuu, ready to take instruction.

“First,” Ohno began I’ll need to line you up so that the dance looks good.

The shift in Ohno’s demeanor was visible as he began his instruction. He stood straighter and his voice seemed to droop an octave and commanded attention. “Aiba-can, please stand over there,” Ohno said and pointed to the far right side of the room. “Jun-kun, next to him.” Ohno continued until all of the groomsmen were sorted by height.

“Okay, so I don’t think this choreography is too complicated, but let me show you what it looks like in full before we start going.” Ohno told the men assembled. A few members of his company that had been milling around the front of the room with Ohno joined him at the front and they got into place.

Aiba watched as the music started and an upbeat song played through the speakers. His jaw dropped as he watched Ohno and the members of his company shift fluidly from move to move. He was mesmerized by the little shakes of their hips, the timed points and the balancing on one foot.

“Close your mouth, Aiba-san, you look at little too shocked by this,” Matsumoto chided.

Aiba snapped his mouth shut then turned to look at Jun, his eyes wide, “How am I ever going to remember all of this?” he asked panicked.

Matsumoto’s laugh turned to concern, “Hey, don’t worry, we still have a few months before the wedding,” he said giving Aiba a sympathetic look.

Aiba nodded and turned to watch the rest of the demonstration.

Forty five minutes later he was drenched in sweat and feeling utterly hopeless. “I’m never going to understand this,” He whined to Ohno. They had been working on the opening section, the “bows and guitars” as Ohno had called them and Aiba just could not seem to remember which foot came first. “Maybe I should just bow out now and keep my dignity.” He gulped down half a bottle of water and looked at Ohno forlornly.

“You’ll get it, Aiba-chan, just keep practicing,” Ohno said giving him a smile and a comforting pat on the back.

Ohno had been incredibly patient with Aiba, coming over to work with him specifically as the rest of the groomsmen worked together practicing the steps in sync. He’d felt increasingly more defeated as the session went on, but Ohno never gave up on him.

Practice ended a few minutes later and Ohno reminded them of their next session two weeks later. Aiba took his time packing up and noticed that Matsumoto seemed to be lingering as well.

“Good work today at practice,” Matsumoto said as he pulled his jacket off of the coatrack.

Aiba gave him a sideways glance trying to see if he was making fun of him or not. “Thanks, you too,” he mumbled as he reached for his own coat.

“Are you busy right now? I’m starving and there’s a really good ramen place near the train station,” Matsumoto asked gesturing towards the door.

Aiba gave him a long look. He was surprised that Matsumoto was asking him since last time they’d spoken he had put his foot in his mouth, so he was little suspicious of the request. Before he could fully weigh the pros and cons, his stomach rumbled loudly and he couldn’t help but laugh at the sound. “I guess my stomach speaks for me. Please, lead the way, Matsumoto-san.”

“Since we’re going to be seeing so much of each other over the next couple of months, I think you’d better call me Jun.”

“Then please lead the way, Jun-kun,” Aiba amended waving goodbye to Ohno and following the other outside.

The wind whipped around them and Aiba pulled his coat tighter. His damp clothes seemed to be absorbing the cold as they trudged their way through the streets towards the noodle shop. When they finally stepped into the restaurant, a wave of heat washed over Aiba and he sighed in relief. A server ushered them to a small table along the left hand wall and disappeared to go get two glasses of water.

“Thank you for the invite, Jun-kun. It’s been a while since I’ve tried a new ramen place. What’s good here?”

“The tonkatsu is my favorite,” Jun replied immediately. “Their broth is the best around.”

Aiba nodded and glanced over the menu one more time before their server came back. They thanked her for the water and Aiba followed Jun’s lead and ordered the tonkatsu ramen, giving him a smile as their waitress went to put their order in.

“I’m sorry about last time—I must have had some sort of out of body experience when I was going on about you trying to steal Oh-chan away from Sho-chan. I don’t know why I said any of that.”

“It’s fine, both Sho-kun and Leader assured me you aren’t actually insane and that you sometimes get carried away.”

Aiba scowled at that description but sighed defeated a second later when he realized it was a fair one. “Yeah, I guess I am pretty excitable sometimes, but I’m usually not that paranoid. I’ll blame the planets for being out of alignment,” He shrugged.

Jun gave him a studying look, then cracked a smile. “Hopefully the planets stay aligned tonight.”

Aiba’s eyes widened at how much Jun’s smile seemed to change his face. He shook the feeling off and turned to watch their server as she returned to take their order.

They ordered beers to drink with their meal and Aiba raised his glass to Jun’s, “To Sho-chan and Oh-chan!”

Jun clinked his glass against Aiba’s and took a drink. “So, Aiba Masaki, tell me about yourself.”

“I’m a nurse at The Children’s Medical Center at Tokyo University Hospital, which would explain why I’m dressed like this. I work the day shift, usually, but do nights every once in a while when someone needs me to cover.”

“Oh, that’s, awesome. Very noble.”

Aiba hid the scowl that threatened to come out at the word noble. He hated the way it sounded, like he was sacrificing something by choosing to work where he did. “I love working with kids—I learn so much from them every day too. It doesn’t really feel all that noble to me.” He shrugged then smiled back at Jun. “What do you do?”

“I’m a costume designer. I work with Leader on his productions and I’ve done a few other stage productions as well.”

This explained a lot about the way Jun presented himself Aiba decided. He could see the hints of the theatrics—Jun’s large sunglasses and silver embellishments on his bag and jacket. 

They thanked the server when their food arrived and Aiba looked down at his bowl of food hungrily. 

“This looks amazing,” he said taking a deep breath and appreciating the aroma of the ramen. After a quick “thank you for the meal,” Aiba began slurping noodles like he hadn’t seen food in weeks. “This really is the best ramen I have had in forever,” Aiba moaned and took another bite of pork. He was barely tasting the food he was eating so quickly.

“I’m glad you like it, but please don’t make yourself sick trying to prove to me you like it,” Jun said apprehensively.

Aiba giggled and took another huge bite of noodles, “I’m not even sorry. This is delicious.”

Jun rolled his eyes and continued eating his meal.

Aiba slowed sown after that, taking the time to savor the flavor of the broth and watching Jun as he ate. As much as Jun teased him about eating quickly, the other man seemed to be inhaling his food as well.

After a minute, Jun put his spoon and chopsticks down and regarded Aiba seriously. Aiba squirmed a bit under his serious gaze. Finally Jun broke the silence.

“The reason we’re eating ramen together and you’re not permanently banned from my existence is because you’re Sho-kun’s best friend, and as I have finally discovered, not a complete psychopath.”

Aiba gave a wry smile at the reminder of their first meeting and waited for Jun to continue.

“Now that I know you’re not crazy, why don’t you help me plan the wedding shower?”

Aiba’s eyes widened at the question and he could feel the smile blossom on his face. There was nothing more that he wanted than to make sure two of his favorite people in the whole world had an amazing party to celebrate their wedding. “Seriously? Of course I want to help!” he cried.

Jun smiled back at him and took a sip of his beer. “Well then, give me your number so that we can make plans.

Aiba handed Jun his phone so that Jun could enter his details. When he was done Jun handed the phone back and as their fingers brushed against each other Aiba felt a little shock go through him. He let out a nervous giggle and opened up an empty message, typing Jun’s name into the recipient bar. “This is Aiba Masaki, let’s work well together!”

He watched as Jun checked the message, a small smile tugging at his lips as presumably added Aiba to his contacts. He really was attractive.  
They chatted idly through the rest of their meal with Aiba throwing out random ideas for the wedding shower, Jun laughing louder with each ridiculous idea.

“We are not doing a Shakespeare theme,” Jun said definitively as Aiba was slurping the last of his broth. He leaned back from the table and patted his stomach satisfied. 

“That was easily the best meal I have had in months,” he told Jun and drained the last of his beer. “And I think you’re missing out. Much Ado About Nothing is totally romantic.”

“Claudio thinks Hero is dead for half the play. Totally romantic,” Jun deadpanned.

“It has a happy ending,” Aiba shrugged draining the last of his beer.

“It’s still not happening,” Jun replied, then turned to smile as the server brought their bill. “Since this was my idea, I’ll treat you to dinner.” 

Aiba started to protest, but Jun was already pushing out if his chair to head towards the counter to pay. He grabbed his and Jun’s coats and followed him hastily.

Once Jun had finished paying, Aiba handed him his coat and followed him outside into the cold air. I’ll pay next time,” he said shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jun shrugged as he started to head towards the train station.

Aiba wanted to argue, but could tell that Jun was one of those people that it would be pointless to argue about something like this with. They entered the station and Aiba checked the board to see he had five minutes before his next train. “Thanks again for dinner,” Aiba said giving Jun a small wave as they parted to go to their respective platforms.

Jun waved back then disappeared behind a crowd of people.

…

When Aiba got home he kicked his shoes off in the genkan and collapsed on his couch. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and sent a message to Sho so he could fill him in on the recent developments.

_When I’m not being completely insane, Matsumoto-kun is really cool to hang out with._ Aiba said by way of greeting.

_Why were you hanging out with Jun-kun?_ Sho answered.

“Shit,” Aiba muttered. He had to think fast. 

_Oh-chan gave me his number a few days ago and I asked him to dinner to apologize. Now we’re planning your wedding shower together._

_Finding a way to weasel into his project?? You really do crush on everyone you meet, don’t you?_

Sho had meant the text in jest, but Aiba still bristled at the words. Sho had told him more times than he could count that he was a hopeless flirt and couldn’t meet anyone attractive without falling for them. Aiba hated this insinuation and had told Sho numerous times that he didn’t think it was true. Sure he was maybe more affectionate than other people, but he didn’t throw himself at every available person he met.

_He’s a cool guy and we both wanted to help you and Oh-chan celebrate. Forgive me for caring._ Aiba tossed his phone down on the couch and went to grab himself a beer. He was too old to be fighting with his best friend over stupid stuff like this.

He returned just as his phone pinged again and he braced himself for another jab. When he opened the message though, it was from Jun.

_Just checking to make sure you got home okay. Let me know._

All of the annoyance Aiba felt seemed to seep out of him as he stared down at Jun’s message. Maybe Sho had a _bit_ of a point, he really did seem to be developing a small crush on Matsumoto.

_Home safe. What about you?_

_Me too. See you at the next practice on Saturday?_

Aiba winced at the thought of another session of stumbling through the moves and feeling like an idiot in front of everyone. Mortification aside, he knew he’d end up at practice anyway because it was for Sho-chan.

_Wouldn’t miss it for the world._

Aiba took a long drink of his beer and contemplated his options. He could pretend to sprain an ankle to get out of dancing. but that would be cowardly. Instead a brilliant idea hit him. He texted Ohno quickly.

_Do you have a copy of the dance online anywhere?_

Mercifully, Ohno’s response was quick.

_Chinen-kun filmed our last session_

…

On his break from rounds the next afternoon Aiba shut himself away in the back of the office with his phone and the link to the video Ohno had sent the night before. “Chinen-kun, I could kiss you,” Aiba muttered as he propped his phone up on one of the tables and pressed play before scrambling to get into position.

“Arrow, arrow, arrow, arrow, body roll, turn…hip, guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar,” Aiba chanted as he went through the first moves of the performance. “Now, dip, and switch—fast guitar.”

“What in the world are you doing, Aiba-kun?”

Aiba spun around at the unexpected voice of his coworker and nearly lost his footing.

“I—Becky-chan, I was just—” he rushed to his phone and paused the video so that it wasn’t blaring for the small speakers anymore. “I’m practicing for Sho-chan,” Aiba explained in the silence that followed.

“I’m not sure that dancing is going to get Sakurai-san to give up Ohno-san,” Becky replied with a wry smile.

“I’m not trying to break them up,” Aiba huffed. “It’s a surprise Oh-chan came up with—the wedding party is surprising Sho-chan at the reception with a dance.”

Becky’s eyes sparkled, “I love dancing.”

Thirty minutes later Aiba, Becky and half of the pediatric ward were crowded into the playroom, the video of Ohno’s company playing on the large TV and everyone was dancing along. Aiba was not practicing as much as he had hoped to be, but making sure the kids were okay and helping to move IV trees when executing spins was his main priority. 

As the dance party wound down, Aiba high fived each of the kids and handed them a cup of water. After the wedding, I’m going to have Sho-chan come and watch you guys dance,” he told them smiling brightly.

“Why not before the wedding?” One of the kids, Fuuki-chan, asked.

“It’s a surprise dance for the wedding. Plus, you guys are way better than we are and if he watches you before us we’re gonna look bad!”

Fuuki-chan giggled then turned to one of the other kids to talk about how they were totally going to make Aiba-chan look bad after the wedding.

Aiba scowled and turned to Becky, “This is your fault you know. We’ve created dancing monsters and their parents are going to hate us.”

“They’ll love us because we’re getting their kids to smile and exercise without complaint. Also, we’re both hot so we’ll just smile and charm them if they get too upset,” she shrugged in reply.

“This is why I’m scared of you,” Aiba told her with a grin and headed off to collect the used cups. He spent the rest of his shift randomly breaking into dance, much to the kids’ amusement, and drew odd looks from a couple of doctors when they came in to check on patients.

Aiba continued practicing with the kids throughout the week and by the next practice he had the first minute of the song down.

He walked into the studio this time feeling confident and gave Jun an energetic wave as he sat down next to him to start stretching.

“Good week at work?” Jun asked curiously.

“Excellent. Rei-chan got discharged yesterday so we threw him a “better now party.”

Aiba’s smile was infectious and Jun couldn’t help but grin back. “It is really amazing to me how well you handle your job. I don’t think I could see kids be sick and in pain and still smile as much as you. Whenever my niece is sick I want to fix her immediately.”

“It is tough, but I think they need a smiling face when they are scared or hurt. I believe that smiling lessens pain and helps the healing process,” Aiba said as they got to their feet to begin class.

They reviewed the first part of the dance, and Jun seemed surprised that Aiba was so fluid in his movements. “Someone must have been practicing this week.”

Aiba gave him a wide grin and over exaggerated the strumming of the second guitar movement. When they started to learn the newer steps, Aiba found that he picked them up much more quickly than the first time and promised himself he would send Chinen-kun a fruit basket in thanks.

…

On Thursday of the following week, Jun texted Aiba letting him know he had booked the venue for the wedding shower. He’d rented out the café that Sho and Ohno had had one of their first dates at, reserving the space for a few hours so that the guests could have the place to themselves. Aiba sent Jun a text back full of hearts and sparkly eyed emoji showing how romantic of an idea this sounded. He then suggested that Saturday after rehearsal they should go shopping for invitations since Aiba knew an awesome little stationary shop a couple of stations from Freestyle Studios.

At Jun’s affirmative response, Aiba pumped his fist and let out a “YES!” Truth be told, he was growing fonder of Jun by the day and loved having an excuse to see him outside of dance practice. 

Aiba continued to dance along with the kids (and at home) to learn the next couple of sequences to the choreography. He found himself humming the song nearly constantly and going through the moves at random times. He’d garnered some strange looks when in the checkout line at Family Mart he’d started balancing on one foot before kicking out and bringing the hand holding his shopping basket up in front of him. He was just about to start tapping his other hand against it when the cashier called him forward.

When Saturday rolled around he nearly bounced into the studio, excited to see Jun and get a whole afternoon alone with him. “Matsujun, hello!” Aiba greeted him as they both entered the studio around the same time.

Jun’s eyebrows furrowed for a second, but he seemed to take the sudden use of a nickname in stride. “Hey.”

“I was thinking about colors for the invitations today. I know you used silver and white for the engagement party, but since this is for presents I think a pop of color would be good,” Aiba said as they made their way to the front of the room. He didn’t want to step on Jun’s toes or anything, but he had so many ideas for how to celebrate with some of his favorite people. “I was thinking maybe some blue tones or something.”

“That’s a great idea, but I need to talk to you about today,” Jun said as they dropped to the floor to stretch.

Aiba felt his stomach drop as Jun’s words sunk in. No one ever had anything good to say after “we need to talk.”

Before they could talk further Ohno walked to the front to start the new session and even though it was informal, there was something about the way Ohno carried himself during rehearsals that commanded respect. Jun shot Aiba an apologetic look before turning his full attention to Ohno and leaving Aiba on edge.

Throughout practice, Aiba could hardly keep his thoughts on the steps. Luckily he had again studied ahead, or he would have been completely lost in the steps. He hated not knowing what Jun was going to say to him and couldn’t concentrate with the myriad of thoughts running through his head. _What if I’m being too annoying? What if he thinks I’m too useless to help? He did say yes before, but what if something happened? If he met someone?_ He shook off the last thought and refocused on Ohno’s voice walking through the steps. He needed to concentrate now.  
After rehearsal, Jun finally explained. “My sister called me this morning, her babysitter cancelled last minute and her and Yuto—my brother in law—have nonrefundable tickets to see Wicked today. It’s their anniversary or I would have said no.”

Aiba felt a sense of relief wash over him. He wasn’t being rejected. “I guess it can’t be helped then.” 

“Maybe this week before or after one of your shifts we can go together?” Jun asked as they began pulling on their coats.

“Yeah, sounds good!” Aiba replied. “So what is your new plan with your niece?” Aiba asked as they made their way towards the train station.

“I’m honestly not sure. Her birthday is coming up, so I’ll let her boss me around this afternoon, then I’ll make us some dinner later and wait for my sister and brother in law to return.” Jun’s smile was fond, and Aiba felt another little swoop of his stomach at the sight.

“Well, I hope you two have a wonderful afternoon,” Aiba said as they reached the station. He waved as Jun headed off toward his platform then turned to look at the schedule. _What am I going to do this afternoon?_ Aiba asked himself as he scanned the list of departures.

He settled on lunch before setting off to find the perfect gift to give two of his favorite people. Luckily he knew the 0101 in Shinjuku could provide both of these things in the same building. He settled into the food court and enjoyed a leisurely meal of kara’age and browsed through lists of “bests wedding gifts for friends” on his phone.

A while later he was on an escalator making his way up to housewares on the fourth floor when an excited squeal caught his attention. He did a double take though when he saw Jun laughing and being dragged by a small girl who seemed to be enchanted by an outfit. When he reached the landing he stepped off the escalator and debated on whether or not to intrude, but before he could decide, Jun spotted him.

“Aiba-kun?” Jun asked, a smile tugging at his lips.

“Matsujun!”

“What are you doing here?” Jun asked curiously.

Aiba watched as Jun’s niece came up behind Jun. She peeked out from around him at Aiba who gave her a wide smile in return.

“I’m on a mission for the perfect wedding present!” Aiba said throwing up a small guts pose. “What about you two?”

“Mana-chan is looking for a birthday outfit,” Jun replied grinning down at her. “I’m not sure why she’s being so shy right now, normally she’ll talk your ear off.” Jun said reaching down and giving one of her pigtails a little tug.

Aiba dropped to a knee in front of the girl and held out his hand, “Hello, Mana-chan, I’m Aiba. It’s very nice to meet you. I’m a friend of your uncle Jun’s.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Aiba-san,” Mana said taking his hand and shaking it as she smiled back at him.

Aiba couldn’t hold back his smile at watching Jun with his niece. He was a completely different person than the cool Matsumoto Jun that Aiba first met at Sho and Ohno’s engagement party. He loved seeing the gap that existed in him and felt himself falling even more for him.

“If you’re not busy, you should join us,” Jun said. Mana nodded enthusiastically and Aiba found that he couldn’t say no.

“Have you found anything present-worth of Leader and Sho-kun?” Jun asked curiously as they wandered the girls’ department looking at the various fashions available. Every once in a while Mana would gesture at a dress and Jun would dig through the rack to find her size before adding it to the ever growing pile of “try on” clothes. Her heart was set on something sparkly, and Jun was only too willing to oblige her.

Two hours later they had settled on a white dress with a light and dark pink sequined bodice. Jun also bought a pair of sparkly silver flats for her to wear with them. As they made their way to the train station, Mana reached out and took one each of Aiba and Jun’s hands. “Can Aiba-san have dinner with us?”

Jun grinned at Aiba over the top of her head, “Only if he doesn’t already have dinner plans.”

“Well, that all depends on what we’re having for dinner,” Aiba said narrowing his eyes playfully back at Jun.

“Okonomiyaki!” Mana exclaimed happily.

“Sounds delicious!” Aiba declared.

Once back at Jun’s apartment while Jun was busy shredding cabbage and peeling shrimp, Aiba took the chance to surreptitiously get a look at his surroundings. He let Mana tug him into the small living room and show him her bracelet making kit she had toted to Jun’s that day.

“Wanna see how it works,” she asked him excitedly.

“Of course. Will you make one for me??” Aiba asked holding out his wrist for her to inspect.

While Mana was measuring Aiba’s wrist and then making him a bracelet, Jun made quick work of frying up the food. Sooner than Aiba expected, Jun called them over to the table for dinner.

“Whoa, this looks delicious!” Aiba said as Jun placed a plate in front of him.

“It’s not as hard as it seems, maybe next time we can make them together,” Jun suggested as he set his and Mana’s plates down as well.

“Jun-chan is a really good teacher,” Mana said.

“I’ll need to take you up on that. I cook some, but usually just throw whatever I like together and make up my own dishes,” Aiba told them with a laugh.

The three said a quick “thank you for the meal” then Aiba took a huge bite of pancake. “Mana-chan is right, this is delicious. You should quit costumes and open a restaurant,” Aiba said licking excess sauce from his lips.

“I’m not sure I’m that good, but thank you for the compliment,” Jun replied, a slight blush settling on his cheeks.

“Café Matsujun,” Aiba teased, “Tokyo’s home for okonomiyaki,” Aiba said throwing a grin at Mana-chan. “We’ll be your two best customers.”

“More like my only two customers,” Jun said wryly.

The three ate happily, then set up a dishwashing line with Aiba washing, Mana drying, and Jun putting things away. 

…

Once Jun’s sister had picked up Mana, Jun collapsed back on the couch. “I love her, but kids are so much work,” Jun said.

Aiba laughed and enjoyed watching a more rumpled Jun unwind. “You get used to them after a little while,” he replied sinking down next to Jun. He didn’t want to leave just yet, but didn’t want to overstay his welcome either. “Thank you for inviting me over, I had fun today.”

“Thank you for adding your expert opinion to Mana’s outfit, and for hanging out with her while I was cooking. I’m sorry again that our original plans got cancelled.”

It was then that Aiba realized how close they were sitting to one another. He was hyper aware of his knee pressed against Jun’s. “We’ll try this week. I work overnight on Wednesday, so I’ll go in about 7:00 if you want to meet up after you get off work?” Aiba offered.

“Wednesday, sure,” Jun nodded.

Aiba’s eyes kept flickering between Jun’s eyes and lips and he couldn’t keep himself from wondering what they felt like. Almost without thinking he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Jun. He felt Jun gasped against his mouth and pulled back quickly, standing up and apologizing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

Jun was on his feet a second later and grabbed Aiba’s hand before he could move too far, “Masaki, wait, please.”

Aiba turned to look at him, he could feel the blush on his cheeks. He couldn’t meet Jun’s gaze, but didn’t want to pull out of his grip either. His breath hitched as Jun’s hands cupped his face and pulled him in gently.

Jun’s lips were soft as Aiba kissed him back. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears as Jun’s tongue darted out seeking entrance. Soon Aiba was being pulled down onto the couch, Jun wrapping his arms around him and pulling him on top of him. “I’m really glad you’re into this,” Aiba panted as he leaned his head down to lick at the skin on Jun’s neck.

“I am,” Jun groaned as Aiba’s teeth found purchase on a spot, then soothed it with his tongue a second later.

Aiba kissed Jun until he felt dizzy, his mind singularly focused on the sounds Jun was making beneath him. When he pulled back again, Jun took the opportunity to try and roll them so that he was on top, but he nearly succeeded in sending them to the floor. Instead, they coordinated so Jun slid out from under Aiba so that they could trade places a little more easily. 

He stared up at Jun, watching as Jun’s eyes darkened a bit before he slid a hand down Aiba’s chest. Aiba nodded when Jun’s hand stilled on the button of his pants and he felt Jun flick it open and pull the zipper down. He moaned brokenly as Jun’s hand found his cock through the material of his boxerbriefs and teased him to full hardness. He felt restricted by still wearing his jeans, but feeling Jun on top of him was enough to keep from voicing his discomfort for now.

“I, you should, I’m not even sure,” Aiba said when Jun finally slipped his hand into his underwear.

Jun gave him a quick smirk before rolling to the side and off of Aiba completely. Aiba was about to protest when just grabbed his waistband and yanked it down so that Aiba could start shimmying out of his pants. “I thought you would be more comfortable,” Jun said innocently as he divested Aiba of both pants and underwear.

Aiba wanted to say something smart in reply, but Jun shut him up before he could when he sat down on the couch and resumed his previous activities. Aiba moaned again as Jun started pumping his cock, swiping his thumb across his slit and using his precome to make the slide a little easier. He wasn’t going to last long with how keyed up his body was and he said as much to Jun. Jun just kept pumping, adding a little twist to his wrist that sent sparks shooting down to Aiba’s toes. He came with his hand fisted in Jun’s hair and his name on his lips.

When he could think again, Aiba returned the favor enthusiastically. He tried to make sure Jun felt as good as he had a few minutes earlier, and returned to kissing Jun’s neck, nipping at his ears, and licking into his mouth.

After they had cleaned up, Aiba finally stood in Jun’s genkan, dragging out the process of putting his shoes on as much as possible. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew he couldn’t because he had to work early the next morning. He leaned in, stealing another kiss from Jun before waving a small goodbye.

…

On his break the next morning Aiba sent a quick message to Jun

_Morning!_

By the end of his break she still hadn’t gotten a response, but Aiba realized that not everyone had to be up as early as he did so he didn’t think anything of it. 

At lunch, he texted a picture of his onigiri with the caption of “It’s not Jun’s okonomiyaki, but it’ll do.” He waited again for a response, but still nothing. As he rode the train home he texted Ohno this time.

_Do you by any chance know why MatsuJun wouldn’t be answering his text messages?_

_No…was he supposed to meet you today?_

_No, not today, but we did hang out last night and I messaged him a couple of times today but he hasn’t answered yet. I’ll try again later or tomorrow._ Aiba had debated on how much he wanted to disclose to Ohno about his and Jun’s encounter the previous, and decided that hedging the issue would be the best plan for now.

Over the next couple of days, Aiba checked his messages more often than usual. By Wednesday he was pissed.

_I’m assuming you’re not lying dead in an alley somewhere. If you didn’t want a repeat performance of the other night, all you had to do was say so. I get it, it’s fine and I’m not mad or anything. Don’t even worry about meeting up tomorrow if you were still planning to. I’ll even leave all of the wedding shower planning to you as well. I’ll see you at rehearsals. Goodbye, Jun._

Aiba hated sending the message to Jun, but he didn’t want to continuously send messages to someone who wouldn’t respond either. He was a nice person, but not a rug to be stepped all over when it was convenient. He could shake this off soon enough even if he was feeling sad about what could have been between himself and Jun.

…

On the way to the next rehearsal, he steeled himself as he was walking in. He would see Jun, they would politely ignore one another, and then it would be fine. If Jun wanted to pretend nothing happened between them, Aiba could definitely play that game. He was surprisingly good at faking smiles when he was upset.

He walked in and smiled at the other members of the wedding party, careful to keep his eyes away from Jun who seemed to be looking around anxiously. He talked a little with Shuu about his break in the semester and the newest family vacation to Bali. When Ohno called them to places, Aiba took a deep breath and plastered one of his smiles on his face as he went to position.

He briefly smiled at Jun then turned his full attention to Ohno.

“Hey,” Jun whispered as Ohno was talking causing Aiba not to hear him.

Aiba shot him an annoyed look in return, then turned back to Ohno. Aiba saw Jun’s shocked face and felt the tiniest bit of satisfaction at it.

They went through rehearsal and Aiba was almost mechanical in following the steps. He was singularly focused in making sure he had the moves down and pretending Jun was just another regular person instead of someone he’d messed around with then was ignored by.

After rehearsal Jun approached him as Aiba was gathering his things. Aiba turned to him warily.

“Are you mad at me?” Jun asked.

“Well, you disappeared on me for a week and then came back like nothing happened, so I’d say I’m a little annoyed, yeah,” Aiba replied steadily.

Jun stared back at him at a loss. “Can I at least explain?”

“Maybe later, right now I need to go,” Aiba said. He turned and walked off.  
He was sitting at home flipping through television channels an hour later wallowing in his own misery. What right did Jun have to see him and act like everything was normal? That he hadn’t completely dropped off the face of the earth with no explanation at all? He sighed when his phone rang, but then glanced at the caller ID and saw Sho’s name and perked up considerably.

“Hello, Sho-chan,” he chirped when he answered.

“What is going on between you and Matsumoto-kun?” Sho replied by way of greeting.

“What do you mean?” Aiba asked evasively. He hadn’t told Sho about last weekend either and didn’t want to rehash it right now if he could avoid it.

“Masaki, Satoshi is upset because one of his best friends is upset and somehow you seem to be the root of this problem.”

Aiba groaned, set his phone down and pulled one of his throw pillows over his face. He let out a frustrated growl before pulling it away and putting his phone back up to his face. “We hooked up” he said in a rush. 

“So? And now you’re going to act like a teenager over it?” Sho demanded.

“I’m not the one acting like a teenager!” Aiba protested. “He’s the one that disappeared the next day and never returned any of my texts. Then showed up to—” Aiba cut himself off just in time. He didn’t want to ruin Ohno’s surprise on top of everything else. “He just suddenly wanted to act like nothing happened and I don’t feel like it yet,” Aiba said in a rush.

“He was at work, he had—no you know what, _you_ need to talk to _him_.”

“I don’t want to talk to him right now. It’s over, I’m over it, we’ll just move on it’ll be fine. I don’t need to talk to him anymore,” Aiba said forcing himself to sound casual. It was true, he’d been fine before Jun and would be fine after Jun.

_Talk to him_.” Sho said then hung up before Aiba could respond.

…

Aiba ignored Sho’s advice and Jun’s texts for the next couple of weeks. He went through his normal routines and even picked out a really cool espresso maker for Sho and Ohno. He thought Jun would have given up by now, and even told Sho as much, who just responded with increasingly more annoyed requests for Aiba to talk to Jun.

Friday night he was at work and laughing with the kids as they were going through the last part of the routine. He hated to admit it, but he was surprised they were still into the dance. He thought they would be bored with it after the first couple of times, but they were still going strong. 

They were in the playroom doing the last bow and arrow move before the reach up and grab the air, when Toma called Aiba’s name. He looked over, then froze at the sight of Jun. “Matsujun,” he breathed.

“Hey,” Jun replied softly.

Aiba turned to the room full of kids, “I need to go talk to my friend for a few minutes okay? Fuuki-chan is going to be in charge of rehearsals until I get back, okay?”

The kids chorused “yes, Aiba-chan” and he handed the remote to Fuuki before walking over to Jun.

Aiba led him around the corner to an empty room so they could have a little bit of privacy. He was thrown off by Jun’s sudden appearance and didn’t really know how to respond. “What are you doing here?” Aiba asked genuinely surprised.

“You weren’t returning my texts or calls and I needed to talk to you. Sho told me you were working and then he called Toma-san up so that he would know to expect me and let me in. I need to explain,”

The sincerity in Jun’s eyes stopped Aiba from dismissing him. He’d been so hurt by Jun ignoring him that he hadn’t been completely rational over the past weeks. He owed him this at least.

“I wasn’t ignoring you after what happened, I had an urgent call from work about an hour after you left. I’m working as costume designer for a film that’s on location in Okinawa right now and there was an issue on set. Nino—Ninomiya Kazunari—called me and needed me to come and settle a dispute. Main filming doesn’t start for a few weeks, so I’ve had some of my people supervising for me while I took care of business here, but that was an emergency.”

“A costuming emergency?” Aiba asked wryly.

“Don’t make fun of my job,” Jun said narrowing his eyes playfully. “There was an issue with an anachronism in one of the outfits and it could have thrown off the credibility of the whole movie. Luckily Nino—Ninomiya Kazunari, realized something wasn’t right when he was looking something up for character development.”

Aiba nodded, “Okay, that makes sense, but why could you not tell me any of this? Is filming top secret?”

“No, I’m just an idiot. I had to take a stupidly early flight, then when I got on location I immediately dropped my phone into the ocean. It wasn’t worth diving after it, and since there is literally one Softbank on the whole island I had to wait until I got back to get a new phone. Then, since I hadn’t backed my phone up on my computer recently it took for-fucking-ever to restore everything from iCloud.”

“That’s—I’m—” Aiba tried to respond to him, but couldn’t find the right words. He took a deep breath and started over. “I’m really sorry I didn’t give you the chance to explain before. I guess I’m the real asshole then,” Aiba scowled at himself.

“Kind of,” Jun grinned back at him.

“Shut up,” Aiba said, shoving Jun playfully.

Jun caught his wrist and pulled him close, “I’m sorry for not communicating better. Next time I’ll make sure you know where I am,” Jun said quietly.

Aiba leaned in and kissed him, winding his arms around Jun to hold him close.

…

They went to the wedding shower as a couple. Aiba took every opportunity he could to introduce Jun as “his boyfriend” to anyone who would listen and Jun just rolled his eyes lovingly and tried his best to hide the blush creeping further up his cheeks with each person.

“I think that’s enough people for now, Masaki,” Jun said as Aiba tried to pull him towards Sho’s parents.

Aiba obliged him and instead pulled him over towards a wall where they could sit out of the way for a little while and observe the party. He was overwhelmed with how happy he felt being able to introduce Jun as someone important to him. “I like that you added the pops of color in the decorations. It makes it look happy,” Aiba said as he gestured towards the paper lanterns strung around the room.

“It’s a good mix of formal and whimsical, kind of like Leader and Sho-kun,” Jun agreed.

“Kind of like us too,” Aiba said and reached out to give his hand a squeeze.

“Kind of like us too,” Jun agreed with a smile.


End file.
